Monday, October 7, 2013

What's DHS up to?

Reports are that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is engaged in a massive, covert military buildup.An article in the Associated Press in February confirmed an open purchase order by DHS for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition. According to an op-ed in Forbes,
that’s enough to sustain an Iraq-sized war for over twenty years. DHS
has also acquired heavily armored tanks, which have been seen roaming
the streets. Evidently somebody in government is expecting some serious
civil unrest. The question is, why?Recently revealed statements by former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown
at the height of the banking crisis in October 2008 could give some
insights into that question. An article on BBC News on September 21, 2013, drew from an explosive autobiography called Power Trip
by Brown’s spin doctor Damian McBride, who said the prime minister was
worried that law and order could collapse during the financial crisis.
McBride quoted Brown as saying:

If the banks are shutting their doors, and the cash
points aren’t working, and people go to Tesco [a grocery chain] and
their cards aren’t being accepted, the whole thing will just explode.If you can’t buy food or petrol or medicine for your kids, people will just start breaking the windows and helping themselves.And as soon as people see that on TV, that’s the end, because
everyone will think that’s OK now, that’s just what we all have to do.
It’ll be anarchy. That’s what could happen tomorrow.

How to deal with that threat? Brown said, “We’d have to think: do we
have curfews, do we put the Army on the streets, how do we get order
back?”McBride wrote in his book Power Trip, “It was extraordinary
to see Gordon so totally gripped by the danger of what he was about to
do, but equally convinced that decisive action had to be taken
immediately.” He compared the threat to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I wonder who will cover this?

Matthew Rothschild used to cover it when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House but not since. He doesn't really care about the world we are living in or the threats from government we might face.

With that in mind, let's note Xinhua reported
Saturday that journalists Mohammed Karim al-Badrani and Mohammed Ghanim were
conducting interviews for al-Sharqiyah TV when unknown assailants shot
them dead in Mosul. Xinhua notes, "The Iraqi Journalists Syndicate
condemned in a statement
the assassination and demanded that the security forces bring the
criminals to justice and provide protection to journalists." Mohammed Tawfeeq (CNN) described al-Sharqiyah as "a private, pro-Sunni television station that is often critical of the Shiite-led government." The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a statement today which includes:

The Committee to Protect Journalists
condemns the killing and calls on the Iraqi government to ensure the
perpetrators are held to account.

Gunmen opened fire on Mohammed Karim
al-Badrani, correspondent for the independent TV channel Al-Sharqiya, and Mohammed
Ghanem, a cameraman, while they were filming in the Al-Sarjkhana area of Mosul
in Nineveh province, the station said. The journalists were hit in the head and chest, the reports said.It was not immediately clear what the
journalists were filming at the time of the attack. A report by the Society for the Defense of Press
Freedom in Iraq said they were filming a report on a market in the Al-Sarjkhana
area. Al-Baghdadia cited an unnamed security source who said the journalists
were reporting on the preparations for the upcoming holiday of Eid al-Adha.It was also unclear why the journalists were
targeted. An unidentified Al-Sharqiya journalist told Agence France-Presse that recent reports by the
station on security operations in Mosul had angered anti-government militants.
The journalist said the station had received death threats by the militants.But Al-Sharqiya, which is popular among Iraq's Sunni minority, is also known for its
critical editorial stance against the Shia-led government under Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki. In April, the government suspended Al-Sharqiya's license, along with those of nine other
channels, after accusing the stations of adopting a "sectarian tone" in the
aftermath of a security raid against Sunni-led demonstrations that killed
dozens.[. . .]The Iraqi Interior Ministry released a statement today, announcing the formation of a joint committee
with UNESCO and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to hold
a conference on the protection of journalists and combating impunity. The
statement did not mention the October 5 killing of the Al-Sharqiya journalists.

“We express our sincere condolences to the families and
colleagues of these two journalists,” the press freedom organization
said. “We urge the authorities to launch an independent investigation to
establish the exact circumstances of the double murder and to bring the
perpetrators and instigators to justice. This appalling act must not go
unpunished.

“The murders are indicative of the deteriorating
security in which those in media have to work. They are increasingly
targeted because of their work. The Iraqi authorities are responsible
for making sure they are able to carry out their duties without fearing
for their safety.”
On 18 September, Hassan Al-Shamari, a correspondent for the newspaper Al-Mada Press, was the target of an attempted kidnapping
by the personal guard of the governor of Diyala Province, Omar
Al-Hamiri. The journalist was attending a news conference during which
the governor verbally abused Hadi Al-Anbaki, a correspondent for the local TV station Al-hurra Iraq.
The altercation was filmed by Al-Shamari, who was set up
by members of the governor’s personal guard after the news conference.
They pulled him violently from his car and hit him several times. They
then tried to force him in their own vehicle before they were stopped by
police officers. The attackers then fled the scene.
The attack took place a day after Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki gave a speech
in which he accused some TV stations of focusing on negative aspects of
the news and of hounding politicians, accusing them of seeing things in
a religious light.

The Society for Defending Press Freedom and the Iraqi Journalists Rights Defending Association
demanded to release the cameraman and engineer affilaited to Baghdadiya
satellite channel who were arrested in Dhi-Qar province on Sunday.

The
representative of the Association in Dhi-Qar, Mustafa al-Saedi,
reported in a statement received by AIN ''The cadre of Baghdadiya
channel, composed of the Directorate of the channel office in Dhi-Qar,
Riyadh Asmaily, cameraman Maher Salih, and the cameraman assistant
Shamam Riyadh were arrested at late hour on Sunday evening at the house
of the Head of Dhi-Qar Health Directorate, Saadi al-Majid,'' noting that
''The journalists were arrested by security forces without an arrest
warrant.''

''The director of the Baghdadiya office was released
on Monday morning while the cameraman and his assistant are still
detained at Thawra police station under the pretext of orders from
superior authorities to prevent the activities of Baghdadiya channel and
close its offices in all provinces,'

The two journalists killed were not Saturday's only deaths. How bad was
Saturday's violence? In the first four days of October (that would be
through Friday), Iraq Body Count
counts 83 violent deaths. Saturday, October 5th, there were more
violent deaths in Iraq than in the first four days of the month
combined. Iraq Body Count counted 100 violent deaths.

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and
Armed Conflict, Ms. Leila Zerrougui, strongly condemns the attack that
took place yesterday morning in an elementary school in a village of
Mosul Province, Iraq. A suicide bomber detonated a truck filled with
explosives on the school playground, killing more than ten children and
injuring dozens more.
“Deliberately killing or injuring young children at their school is
appalling,” declared Leila Zerrougui. “This is a grave violation of
children’s rights and I remind everyone that schools are and must remain
safe havens.”
The surge of violence in Iraq spares no one and no place. In the past
few weeks and months, children have been killed or injured by attacks
targeting civilians. Schools, as well as recreational areas where
children gather to play, have been targeted.
“I call on political, religious and civil leaders to come together to
find a solution to this surge of violence that is deeply affecting
children,” said the Special Representative. “It is our collective duty
to protect children as well as their places of learning.”

RATH: Can you break down the spike in violence, you know, just how violent has it become in Iraq compared to the past and why?SCHRECK:
Violence in Iraq has been on the increase really since probably the
second half of last year, but things have really picked up significantly
in the past few months. Last month, the United Nations mission to Iraq
said 979 people were killed. The vast majority of the people were
civilians. That was just one month. Now, those numbers are certainly not
quite as big as what we saw at the peak of the sectarian killing in
Iraq in 2006, 2007. However, they are a lot bigger than what we've seen
in recent years.

A wave of suicide bombings targeting school children and Shi’a
pilgrims over the weekend marks a deplorable turn in the current surge
in violence, said Amnesty International.In the latest attacks at least 22 people were killed today in a fresh wave of explosions in Baghdad."Deliberately
killing civilians can never be justified. These latest attacks are war
crimes and are part of a widespread attack against civilians in Iraq
that amounts to crimes against humanity,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui
Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Deputy Programme
Director.The attacks, which included suicide bombings in
a school playground in northern Iraq and on Shi’a pilgrims in the
capital, left scores of people dead, including at least 12 children.The
violence in various parts of the country has been surging to levels not
seen in several years. No armed group has yet claimed responsibility
for the latest series of attacks, but they bear the hallmarks of the
Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), an al-Qa'ida affiliate.ISIS
has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed hundreds of
civilians, including many Shi'a, around Iraq in the last few months. Its
purported aim is to ignite a full sectarian war between Sunni and Shi'a
Iraqis, similar to the one that ravaged the country in 2006-7.Latest wave of attacks On
6 October a man driving a lorry full of explosives blew himself up at a
primary school in the Shi'a Turkmen village of Qabak just outside the
town of Tal-'Afar, 70km north-west of Mosul in northern Iraq. At least
12 children aged between six and 12 were killed and scores were
injured.It came a day after three separate attacks on 5 October.In
Baghdad, another suicide bomber attacked a crowd of Shi'a pilgrims in
al-Adhamiya district on the eve of the anniversary of the death of a
revered Shi'a Imam, killing at least 51 people and injuring at least 70Also
on 5 October a suicide bomber struck a café in Balad, north of Baghdad,
killing at least 12 people and wounding at least 25 others.The
same day in Mosul, two media workers for the satellite television
channel al-Sharqiya, correspondent Mohammad Karim al-Badrani and
cameraman Mohammad Ghanem, were shot dead by armed men. Al-Sharqiya said
that the two men had previously received threats because of their
reporting on security issues.Iraq's head of Parliament
Ussama al-Nujaifi condemned these latest attacks and urged the
government to do more to protect the population.“Armed
groups must immediately end deliberate attacks on civilians. The Iraqi
government must do more to protect the civilian population from such
attacks, and ensure prompt, independent and impartial investigations
into these crimes,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.According to the group Iraq Body Count,
as of 6 October, 229 civilians had been killed around Iraq since the
beginning of the month, and more than 6,000 so far this year - the
highest death toll since 2008.

The prime minister, whose term ends in
2014, said that the rise in terrorism in Iraq is rooted in the rise of
regional sectarianism and “directly related to the developments in the
Syrian crisis and its repercussions on the Iraqi arena. We are very
worried about the Syrian arena transforming into a field that attracts
extremists, terrorists and sectarians from various parts of the world,
gathering them in our neighborhood.”Of course, Nouri would choose to blame it on Syria. He's a
thug. He can't provide security and he can't stop inciting the people.

The young men are scared and why are they blindfolded? Why was their picture taken, let alone distributed to the media?

This isn't about fairness or determining innocence. This isn't about seeking truth.

The Ministry of the Interior says the three are killers.

And they distribute this photo to the press insisting the three are killers.

A lot of people will see what I see: Three scared young men.

Those people will have even less faith and trust in Nouri's corrupt government. BBC News observes:

In the past two months, Iraqi security forces have reportedly
arrested hundreds of alleged al-Qaeda members in and around Baghdad as
part of a campaign the government is calling "Revenge for the Martyrs".
But the operations, which have taken place mostly in Sunni
districts, have angered the Sunni community and failed to halt the
violence.

There were over 2,000 people arrested in mass arrests last month alone.
It's not helping to calm the situation in Iraq or reduce the violence.
These people -- like those who are already in the 'justice' system --
disappear, are tortured and never get a day in court. All Iraq News notes:

The leading figure within the Sadr Trend, Hazim al-Araji,
stressed that "Muqtada al-Sadr refuses to compromise over releasing his
imprisoned followers." Araji said "The prisoners
of the Sadr Trend are from the resistance elements," noting "Their
weapons were not used against any Iraqi person and their only enemy was
the occupier." "We had called and still call for
releasing those prisoners, he added assuring "The Head of the Sadr
Trend, Muqtada al-Sadr did not forget the imprisoned resistance
fighters, but he formed a legal commission to follow up their cases."

Iraq desperately needs new leadership.

And for the ones who can't catch on, Nouri runs the Ministry of the
Interior. His refusal to nominate someone for that post -- or to head
any of the security ministries -- means he runs it.
Meanwhile Iraq still needs an election law to hold parliamentary elections in a few months as it is supposed to do.
All Iraq News reports
MP Susan al-Saad is noting that in the 2010 elections, the law was that
there was a quota for women that was in addition to those women who ran
for seats and won. Instead, she points out that 21 women won seats and
these women were then used for the quotas. She states this issue needs
to be cleared up before the next parliamentary election. Alsumaria reports
that Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujaifi presided over a session
today which 220 MPs attended and that the election bill was raised.

NINA states that a date for the elections was agreed upon: April 30th. Before the session started, Iraqiya MP Mudhhir al-Janabi predicted to All Iraq News that a law would not be passed in today's session. Of course, he was correct. NINA notes
Iraqiya MP Haider Mulla has announced no law was passed and states they
will not allow "the will of the Iraqi people [to be broken] through the
postponement of elections and the failure to approve the law. This is a
red line will not allow it because entitlement for each of the Iraqi
people." Alsumaria notes
National Alliance MP Ammar Tohme held a press conference decrying the
inability to pass an election law and stating that this is failure that
keeps repeating. Alsumaria reports al-Nujaifi states if they can't pass a law, they will use Law 16 of 2009 -- the parliamentary election law used for 2010. Rudaw informs:

Kurdistan
Region President Massoud Barzani has called on all Kurdish MPs in the
Iraqi parliament to set aside differences and unite behind an initiative
to bring changes in the country’s elections law, including more seats
for Shabaks, Yezidis and other minorities.“President Barzani asked all Kurdish groups to put aside their
differences of Kurdistan and act united in Baghdad,” said Muayad Tayib,
spokesman of the Kurdish bloc in the Iraqi parliament, after meeting
with the Kurdish president at the Pirmam summer resort on Saturday.

Baghdad, 6 October 2013 –Following his meeting today with
Kurdistan Region of Iraq’s President Mr. Masud Barzani, the Special
Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG),
Mr. Nickolay Mladenov said: “I call on all parties to find as soon as
possible a reasonable compromise on the draft Election law that allows
all components of the Iraqi society to remain engaged. It a crucial
step towards holding parliamentary elections in the constitutionally
stipulated time frame”.

During his visit to Erbil, the UN Envoy travelled to the Syrian
refugees’ Kawirgosk Camp, and met with PUK representatives. Meetings
with Kurdistan Region Government’s Prime Minister, Mr. Nechirvan
Barzani, as well with Goran party representatives are scheduled later in
the day.

Nickolay E. Mladenov (born in 1972) was educated at King's College
London (MA War Studies) and the Economics University in Sofia (BA &
MA International Relations). His major interests are in foreign policy,
international security, and social development.

Between 2001 and
2005 he was an elected Member of the Bulgarian Parliament, where he
served as vice-chairman of the European Integration Committee and was a
member of the Foreign and Defence Policy Committee. Mr. Mladenov was one
of the two Bulgarian Parliamentary representatives to the Convention on
the Future of Europe.

Back to the US,
Lynne Stewart. is a political prisoner in the United States. For the 'crime' of issuing a press release, she was
eventually tossed in prison. The 'crime' happened on Attorney General
Janet Reno's watch. Reno has her detractors who think she was far too
tough as Attorney General. She also has her supporters who see her as a
moderate. No one saw her as 'soft.' Reno had her Justice Department
review what happened. There was no talk of a trial because there was no
crime. No law was broken. The Justice Department imposes guidelines
-- not written by Congress, so not laws -- on attorneys. Lynne was made
to review the guidelines and told not to break it again. That was her
'punishment' under Janet Reno. Bully Boy Bush comes into office and the
already decided incident becomes a way for Attorney General John
Ashcroft to try to build a name for himself. He goes on David
Letterman's show to announce, after 9-11, that they're prosecuting Lynne
for terrorism.

Eventually tossed in prison? Even Bully Boy Bush allowed Lynne to
remain out on appeal. It's only when Barack Obama becomes president
that Lynne gets tossed in prison. It's only under Barack that the US
Justice Depart disputes the judge's sentence and demands a harsher one
(under the original sentence Lynne would be out now). Lynne's cancer
has returned.

She needs to be home with her family. Her time is limited and it needs
to be spent with her loved ones. Lynne's a threat to no one -- not
today, not ten years ago. She's a 73-year-old grandmother who has
dedicated her life to being there for people who would otherwise have no
defenders. Even now in prison, she shows compassion towards those who
have had none for her. Barack Obama needs to order her immediate
release. If he fails to do so, then it should be a permanent stain on
his record.

Lynne noted last week:

From Deep in the Belly of the Beast ... that is, Texas.Now another month has passed and I am getting increasingly irritable
that these jokers are so cavalier with my life and what time I have
left. (I also am getting weaker.)My application for compassionate release is moving but glacially (Are
there any glaciers left? Only in the bureaucracy...). We learned that
the request has left the General Counsel's office of the Bureau of
Prisons in Washington and is now being considered by an "Independent
Committee" (whatever that means). From there it will ostensibly go to
the Director, Mr. Samuels, for the final recommendation and request for a
motion to the Judge. As you can appreciate there is still plenty of room for slips between
cup and lip. I truly understand that I, with the strong and consistent
support of all 30,000+ of you, do constitute a "threat" in their small
universe. That is to say that, the will of the People cannot be ignored
forever. With that in mind, I want to urge everyone to come on out on OCTOBER 8, TUESDAY, MY 74th BIRTHDAY
FOR A LOCAL SHOW OF OUR COLLECTIVE WILL
IN OPPOSITION TO THE '"DEATH PENALTY "ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZE • ORGANIZEYOU AND YOUR COMRADES, FRIENDS, ACQUAINTANCES CAN GATHER AT YOUR
LOCAL FEDERAL (U.S.) COURTHOUSE OR POST OFFICE TO REMIND THEM THAT WE
WILL NOT LET ME DIE IN A JAIL CELL!!!If you can do this please notify Ralph of your location by sending an
email to my web site [1lawyerleft at gmail.com] or to this site. We hope this will be nationwide
and we can spread the word of the senseless cruelty in the way the
Bureau of Prisons administers a program that is supposed to be
compassionate. I may be the "poster child" but this is done on behalf of
all the prisoners who are languishing, in pain or worse, trying to go
home.Be out there on October 8. It is already an historic day. Let's make it More So!!! Let's Win.